Of Red Bull

Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School (ABECS) applicant, Sait Onal blamed his recent outburst at the February 19th Lancaster school board meeting on the ingestion of the energy drink Red Bull. Geez, it’s a good thing that Onal wasn't drinking alcohol because if he got that hyped up on caffeine, lord only knows how he would have acted with a vodka buzz.Onal, as you may recall went on a “liar rampage” – proclaiming that the proposed charter school opponents were all liars --- (see Wag the Dog blog), and it got so ugly that the cops were called in to settle down the crowd. In keeping with their usual business plan, Onal and the boys threw around the always foreboding “test scores,” as evidence and rationale for Gulenist intervention and educational redemption – an altruistic last ditch effort to save the floundering American children from falling into the depths of illiteracy hell.Oh! Yes, the test score war cry – the No Child Left Behind nemesis that has managed to single-handedly instill trepidation and anarchy into the bowels of the American education system -- and in doing so -- has opened the floodgates to shoddy charter school operators who channel bogus promises of superior education and resulting test scores.That all sounds great – but in the case of the proposed ABECS charter school, Board President Onal does not have a background in education. The guy raises cows and sells life insurance – so exactly how do those particular experiences relate to raising test scores among failing American students? And again – let’s revisit test scores and the Gulen schools’ bragging rights over those scores. For years we have been advocating the use of independent proctors (that would be non-hand- selected Turkish guys), to administer and handle the state tests in the Gulen-inspired schools as an effort to validate the authenticity of the scores. Onal wants the Lancaster community to fund his curriculum deficient folly by using school district funding to the tune of $9,386.95 per regular education student and $21,159.56 per special education student. ABECS’ haphazard curriculum is based on a business and entrepreneurship model for kindergarten to fourth graders – because all elementary kids aspire to be Donald Trump or Warren Buffett – right? Let’s hope the folks in Lancaster take heed and turn Onal out to pasture – sending him back to his cows and Red Bull -- leaving the fate of our children’s education to genuine qualified educators who have more to offer than bull….Below is a story written by Gil Smart of the Lancaster New Era:Charter school friends, foes air their feelingsPlan before SDL board has many supporters and detractorsIntelligencer JournalLancaster New Era Updated Mar 04, 2013 09:25 LancasterOriginally Published Mar 03, 2013 20:49By GIL SMART Staff Writer Sait Onal blames it on the Red Bull.

Onal quaffed the energy drink prior to a Feb. 19 Lancaster school board hearing on the proposed Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School. The four-hour hearing got out of hand, with Onal — president of the charter school board — accusing opponents of lying. Other confrontations between charter school backers and foes prompted school officials to call police.

A final hearing on the plan will be held Tuesday. Onal said he hopes cooler heads will prevail. School district officials have arranged to have a city police officer on hand just in case.

On one side are parents and residents who say the charter plan is full of holes. They're wary of Onal, a Manheim Township businessman who has no experience in education, but who's been involved in previous attempts to establish charter schools here and in Harrisburg.

They wonder why he's so determined — and whether the Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School, or ABECS, would be tied to other Turkish-led charter schools around the country linked to a mysterious Turkish Imam.

Onal dismisses the concerns. Education, he says, is the ticket out of poverty. And given the low test scores in city schools, he said, people shouldn't be asking why —\!q "They should," he said, "be asking, 'why not?' "

The Lancaster school board will vote on the proposed charter school March 19. If approved, ABECS would have an initial budget of $2.4 million; the district would remit $9,386.95 per regular education student and $21,159.56 per special education student. ABECS hopes to enroll 220 K-4 students next school year, and add one grade each year until 2021-22.

The monetary loss could hammer a school district. That's one factor behind the opposition. A bigger one is the proposed curriculum, which foes see as badly flawed.

At the Feb. 19 meeting, SDL Assistant Superintendent Tracy Ocasio said the curriculum lacked specifics on what would be taught and how goals would be measured, and its emphasis on business would leave limited time for reading and writing.

She noted similarities between the ABECS application and those submitted elsewhere, including Allentown. ABECS consultant Harold Kurtz also worked on the proposed Allentown Engineering Academy Charter School, which was rejected by the Allentown school board Thursday.

Dennis Deslippe, an associate professor at Franklin & Marshall College and a district parent, also pored over the curriculum. "It seemed they pulled things from other applications, promised to measure things you can't measure like 'confidence,' and didn't seem to understand (SDL) and the things we have at the secondary level already," he said.

Opponents say Onal seems to want credit for trying, but that isn't enough.

"Their message seems to be, 'The School District of Lancaster has problems' and 'Mr. Onal is a fine fellow' — like this is a Make-A-Wish moment for him," said Deslippe. "I'm unmoved by his argument that this has been a lifelong dream of his and we should open our wallets and give him our kids."

Added John McGrann, a former school board member and father of three: "It's not like they're passionate about delivering on a specific educational need that's missing in SDL, they just want a school for whatever reason, and latch onto whatever specialty they think will resonate with either the board or the community."

But Indrit Hoxha, an ABECS board member, said the business focus of the school was carefully chosen; it was his idea.

Hoxha, an assistant professor of economics and business administration at Penn State Harrisburg who lives in Mount Joy, sees a "low quality of education of kids coming to college ... especially after the financial crisis, the illiteracy of people (in terms of) financial knowledge."

But "for me to start (a charter school) by myself would take a long time," Hoxha said, "and I'd need to make connections."

Enter Onal.

Born in Turkey in 1969, he has an undergraduate degree and an MBA from Philadelphia University. A father of two, he's a district manager for Monumental Life Insurance Co.'s Harrisburg region, and he owns Mudi Farm Export, which exports dairy cattle to Turkey.

He's president of the Red Rose Intercultural and Educational Foundation, a nonprofit that sponsors Turkish cultural events and interfaith programs. He's president of the Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania, and he previously ran the Wyoming Educational Foundation, a nonprofit based in northeastern Pennsylvania that operated summer camps for Turkish-Americans. Onal said the group is defunct.

He's been involved in the charter school movement since at least 2006, when he was part of a group backing the Harrisburg Capital Academy. Harrisburg School District ultimately rejected the proposal. In 2008, he led a failed effort to establish the Lancaster Science Academy charter school here.

He's listed as secretary of Dream Schools Inc., a Pittsburgh-area nonprofit that exists to "provide educational services," according to state files. Onal said Dream Schools was formed to sponsor a charter school, but the group is "inactive."

In March 2012, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Dream Schools rents space to two Turkish-led charter schools, Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School in Baldwin, and the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School in State College. The latter counts among its board members Dr. Omer Gul, vice president of Dream Schools.

Nationwide, Turkish-Americans have been very active in the charter school movement. Onal said it may be a cultural thing — Turks, he said, realize the importance of education and want to give back to their communities.

But the preponderance of Turkish-led charters has led to questions about whether the schools constitute a "movement" — and about ties to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish religious figure who lives in the Poconos region.

Numerous news outlets have run stories on the "Gulen movement," a network of institutions — including schools — followers have established around the world. On the political right, some have alleged the schools indoctrinate children.

At a December meeting on the Allentown Engineering Academy Charter School, one school board member, citing "the elephant in the room," asked if the founders were affiliated with Gulen. Consultant Kurtz called the question "obscene"; lead applicant Kadir Veziroglu said there were no connections.

Last week, the Loudoun County (Va.) school board rejected the proposed Loudoun Math & IT Academy Charter School after "a storm of allegations that the applicants have hidden ties to a Muslim preacher," according to the Washington Post. The Loudoun applicants, several of whom were of Turkish origin, denied any connection.

"Gulen is someone that everybody knows in Turkey ... I have read his books," said Onal. But ABECS is "definitely not" affiliated, he said. "I don't even know if there's such a thing as a Gulen school," Onal said.

Onal counts some local legislators among his supporters. Said state Sen. Lloyd Smucker, who penned a letter supporting the ABECS plan, "I have absolutely no reason to believe that this is anything other than them being concerned and trying to help the community, trying to provide something they think will benefit the people who live here."

Other ABECS board members are annoyed at the focus on Onal. "This is not the school of Sait Onal," said Hoxha. "There's a board, there are many people" involved.

But Onal believes ethnic animosities drive the opposition. He blames the Rev. Susan Minasian, chaplain at Franklin & Marshall College, an Armenian-American who has opposed Onal and the charter proposals in part because she believes the school would deny or ignore the Armenian Genocide, the Ottoman government's extermination of minority Armenians. Turkey, successor state to the Ottoman Empire, has denied the killings constituted genocide.

Onal wonders what that's got to do with him. "I was born in Turkey but I've lived here in United States more than I ever lived in Turkey," he said. "I am not the Turkish government. ... That was 55 years before I was born."

ABECS backers claim Minasian has gotten others at F&M to oppose the school. Hoxha cited a comment by one F&M professor and district resident in a November article, vowing to oppose the school — which had not yet formally submitted its application.

"What were they going to fight? They didn't know what we are planning to do," said Hoxha.

Onal also said opponents have "bullied" some backers into withdrawing their support. One woman even said she feared for her job, he said.

Several letters of support have been rescinded, though in some cases because they were signed by low-level staff and top executives did not know they were officially "backing" the proposal. One letter of support came from Mudi Farm Export — Onal's company; he signed it. Another was signed by Onal's wife, who works for a church-related organization; that letter was withdrawn.

Minasian responded with a statement that read: "I have spent my vocation of ordained ministry over the past 25 years building up inter-religious, multicultural communities of inclusion. Unfortunately the promoters of this application are diverting the attention away from the deficiencies outlined in a two hour presentation by the school district itself."This is not about ethnic bias. This is about a deficient application and also the serious concern that should not be minimized about people who deny genocide asking to use our taxpayer dollars to shape the minds of young people for the future. Just as we would not want holocaust deniers leading our schools, we would not want genocide deniers shaping or leading our educational institutions. The applicants continue to repeat the same mistakes and lack of a substantial application, and our community's concerns should rest there."

But Onal said ABECS has broad support: 1,500 people signed petitions or wrote letters backing the plan. He characterizes the opposition as a small, vocal group.

Yet those opponents have frustrated him. Kids in Lancaster need an alternative, one he's willing to help craft. Why don't they see that? Why won't they get behind it?

"We will do what we have to" to address problems with the application, Onal said.

"But we shouldn't be in the spotlight. The children should be in the spotlight."gsmart@lnpnews.com